3What are “Web Services”?Web Services are evolving, middleware platform that facilitate program-to-program interactions.A service is a software entity that can be discovered and invoked by other software systems.Definition from standardization body W3CA Web service is a software system identified by a URI, whose public interfaces and bindings are defined and described using XML. Its definition can be discovered by other software systems.These systems may then interact with the Web service in a manner prescribed by its definition, using XML based messages conveyed by internet protocols

4How “Web Services” EmergeWeb-based Applications ExploitingE-Business Urging the program-to-program interactions and and integration across heterogeneous platformsIt came to the market at the time when demand for such technology was growing rapidlyThe existing middleware technologies were not implemented with the Web in mindIt is backed by many key organizations (both commercial and non-commercial)

5Web Services Standardization BodiesW3C:World Wide Web Consortiumthe most notable web organization founded in 1994 by the inventor of the webWeb Architecture, Document formats, interaction, etcOASIS: Organization of Structured Information StandardsDrives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standardsService register and publish, Security, Transaction,etcWS-I: Web Services Interoperation OrganizationInitiated by IBM, Microsoft and other vendorsArticulate/promote a common Web Services visionIntegrate specifications from various standards bodies

9Some Issues Technology Areas to be StandardizedSecurity: Inter-enterprise communications secure (XKMS, XACML,etc)Business Process Management (WSFL)Quality of Service and Reliable MessagingSystem&Network ManagementChaos: There are tons of proposals from vendors but none of them has been universally accepted.Different implementation for core protocols: Commercial and open-source toolkits vary widely.A long way to go before web services cover the full range of requirements for e-business!